What Katy Louise Did...

Katy Louise writes about health, wealth, happiness and relationships, and the spiritual insights she gains along her path.
She is currently editor of Top Sante magazine (www.topsante.co.uk). Prior to that she was editor of Bodyfit magazine (now Your Fitness www.yourfitnesstoday.com) and the launch editor of Soul&Spirit magazine (www.soulandspiritmagazine.com). Katy is also a certified Fitsteps and STOTT Pilates instructor. She is the go-to girl for all matters relating to health, wellbeing and spirituality.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Why menstruation should be celebrated!

Did the title of this blog catch your eye? Did you wholeheartedly disagree with it? Well, I'll admit I do to, at the moment at least. But this coming weekend my deputy and I are heading to Glastonbury for what promises to be an incredibly enlightening workshop run by a lady who calls herself the 'Flying Witch', all about how to get in tune with your menstual cycle and come to view it as a positive, energising thing in your life, not a negative 'curse.

The Flying Witch

The 'Flying Witch' (real name Gabriella Guglielminotti Trivel) says on her website that women need to learn how to get in touch with their inner feminine power, and how to use understand and use their cycle to their advantage. The testimonials on the site were enough to convince me that this was a lady I needed to meet, and from whom I could probably learn a lot. Being a real head-based person, I want to get in touch with that inner intuition and feminine knowing, that I am sure is buried deep insied me somewhere. Maybe Gabriella is the one who will help me tap into it! And if it helps me understand my feelings and emotions, then so much the better.

Natural childbirthThe whole subject of periods and even natural childbirth is one that fascinates me at the moment, having read a book by Ina May Gaskin all about natural, drug-free childbirth, and how much better is it for the baby and for the recovery of the mother. Ina May has been a midwife for somethind like 40 years (I forget the specifics) and I felt that what she wrote about in the book was the truth: that birth has become so sterile and treated as an illness, i.e. 'what can go wrong', where as it is actaully a totally natural process that most women can go through without intervention. Having also subsequently watched One Born Every Minute, and heard plenty of negative comments from other women I know, about how dangerous birth can be, I think it is a sad state of affairs that we have gotten into in the West. Women are so divorced from their bodies and their natural processes: they just want to drug themselves up and get it over with (and yes, I admit I have not had a child so how can I comment on such a thing, and by the way I am not judging anyone for the choices they make - until I go through it myself I dont know how I will respond). But I just felt strongly that there needs to be a cultural shift back to the way things used to be, when women gave birth at home with midwives who knew what they were doing. Where it was more relaxed and the woman was respected and worshipped, not drugged up hurried along because her body was 'taking too long' to do its job.

Period power! Another lady who inspires me is Dr. Christiane Northrup, whose wisdom I was listening to on a Hay House audio CD the other day. It was one with Wayne Dyer - Tao te Ching expert - and I forget the name of the CD now as it's at home, but Dr Northrup is also advocates the work of Ina May Gaskin, and in getting women to become more in tune with their bodies and be wary of Western medicine. I could go on about this subject for ages, but suffice to say that my journey on the path of discovering the 'power of my periods' will begin this Saturday, Fenbruary 26, in Glastonbury (where else!)

Information I reckon it's going to be a great workshop so I wanted to share the details. Visit

www.flyinginspiration.co.uk to find out more. It costs £75 for the day and is at Healing Waters retreat centre(www.healing-waters.co.uk or call 01458 835859) though she also runs the workshops elsewhere.